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2.0 Intro
The justification, planning, publicizing and implementation of cultural mediation activities all hinge on the question of whom they are intended for. However, questions of audience definition have consequences for an institution’s self-image and its staffing as well. An arts institution which offers only lectures, film series and symposia for experts will staff its cultural mediation department (assuming it has one) with people who have a very different set of professional qualifications than will an institution whose programme is aimed primarily at children and school classes. By the same token, the institutions will publicize their programmes differently, and justify them on different grounds. In the former case, the stated aim will be the advancement of discourse in the field; in the latter, the cultivation of the
→ next generation of visitors or a more broadly framed educational mission might be cited.
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the concept of the target group, a tool used by most institutions to define their audiences. It explores some of the consequences and critiques of thinking in terms of target groups and puts forth some suggestions for other approaches which might help institutions get past some of the negative aspects. The text for reading at leisure addresses problematic and yet frequently used categorizations attributed to target groups, such as “disadvantaged”, “with little exposure to culture” [kulturfern] or “[im]migrant”. It points up the dilemma of targeting: the dangers associated with the use of
→ attributes when defining the group of people to whom an invitation being issued vs. the difficulty of issuing an invitation without addressing it to someone. And finally, the text opens up perspectives for a constructive approach to this opposition.
